Making Kambala legal: Karnataka Govt moves Bill in Legislative Assembly

Almost a year after the Supreme Court banned several animal sports in its villages, the state government introduced a Bill in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and allow the holding of traditional sports like Kambala and bullock cart races in North Karnataka and its coastal districts.

Tabling the Bill, Animal Husbandry Minister, A Manju said Kambala was a traditional folk sport and involved no cruelty to animals. He argued that the popular opinion was that it should be allowed.

The High Court had stayed Kambala last November based on a petition by PETA, which had referred to the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu in TN.

But following widespread protests in the coastal districts, the Assembly passed a Bill in February this year to exempt Kambala from the ambit of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The President, however, returned the Bill, suggesting some changes. Accordingly, the government has modified the Bill and tabled it once again in the Assembly.

A committee headed by Law Minister, T B Jayachandra too has recommended that Kambala and the bullock cart race should be allowed in the state as they involve no betting or cruelty to animals.